A non-creedal missional community in a progressive ecumenical universalist christian way, 5920 N. Owasso Ave, Turley, OK 74126 918-691-3223, 794-4637, 430-1150. Service. Community. Discipleship. Worship. All are Welcome. See below or Write to revronrobinson@aol.com for the latest gatherings. We often worship with others on Sunday. We hope you respond to the call to service to and with others in an Abandoned Place of the American Dream Marketplace Empire.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Worship Evangelism and Emergent "Church"

Sally Morganthaler, author of Worship Evangelism, is going to be one of the thinkers and new evangelists that I will be profiling in my workshop next week. So I dust off her book and go to her wonderful site, www.sacramentis.com, but find (see her comments below) that she has put that site to rest and is emerging with a new focus with a new site about to emerge at www.trueconversations.com. Add the new website to your favorites and consult it again when it is fully up and running. Sally will also be the keynoter at a conference here in Tulsa I am registered for in September so I look forward to reporting back more from it on her thoughts about worship, church, and where God is leading her/us now. Her new work and new site will also be a focus on leadership. Changing ideas about leadership are themselves emerging as the hot topic of planting and for all of church life. I will need to start a separate post for links and ideas on the new demands of leadership, but invite you all to send them along as well. Thanks.

Now back to Sally and her own emergence, which you will see echoes of in the words and works of others mentioned here at PCP.

"An End... And a Beginning.

Sacramentis has been a pioneer site on worship and culture for seven years. From the beginning, it has been a gathering spot for the best worship resources available. Sacramentis has also been a place where church leaders could go deeper into what classic Christian worship is and does, and where they could re-imagine worship for communities where church-going is no longer the norm. From your letters of support and encouragement, it seems we were able to accomplish these two goals. For that, we are grateful.

We regret that our site has been down for so long and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. We had hoped to put Sacramentis back on the web this month, and had been working toward that end. However, we have simply come to realize that it is time to move on. Sacramentis still believes strongly that corporate worship is central to the life and vitality of the Church. But we have become convinced that the primary meeting place with our unchurched friends is now outside the church building. Worship must finally become, as Paul reminds us, more life than event. (Romans 12:1,2)

To this end, Sally Morgenthaler and the rest of the Sacramentis team will be focusing on the radically different kind of leadership it will take to transform our congregations from destinations to conversations, from services to service, and from organization to organism.

We have valued our community with you these past seven years. Your support has been integral to keeping Sacramentis vital and responsive to the shifting needs of congregations in the midst of worship change. We cant thank you enough for your friendship, and for your own pioneering work in thousands of congregations across the U.S. and around the globe.Sacramentis may be ending, but the crucial work of connecting people with God continues. We invite you to continue the conversation as we explore what new-world leadership looks like at its best.